


Shirtless and Sentimental

by sixclawsdragon



Category: Magic Kaito
Genre: Gossip, M/M, Tattoos, kaito's schemes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-05
Updated: 2019-07-05
Packaged: 2020-06-15 15:45:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19620406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sixclawsdragon/pseuds/sixclawsdragon
Summary: Kaito hears a very interesting rumor about Hakuba and decides to investigate





	Shirtless and Sentimental

“Hakuba has _what_?” Kaito squawks when Aoko tells him the gossip she’s just heard. 

“Shhh!” Aoko covers his mouth. “He’ll hear you.”

Kaito licks her hand and she pulls it away and wipes it on his shirt.

“What is it? Where is it?” He starts as soon as his mouth is uncovered. “Are you sure this is even true? I mean, c’mon, he doesn’t seem like the type.”

“All Aoko heard was that Hakuba-kun has a tattoo and that’s why he changes in the bathroom stall for gym.” She shrugs. “Ishida-san saw it and told Takahara-kun, who told Asami-chan, who told Keiko-chan, who told me.”

“I bet it’s just a dumb rumor, there’s no way Hakuba has a tattoo. He’s too lawful good to do something not allowed in school.”

“But the rules are different in England, aren’t they?” Aoko asks, and Kaito shrugs. They probably are, but he doesn’t know the specifics.

“What kind of tattoo would Hakuba even get? A pocket watch? Some Sherlock Holmes quote?”

“I don’t know.” Aoko doesn’t seem terribly interested in Hakuba’s possible tattoo. “I’m sure you’re right and it’s just gossip, though, so it doesn’t really matter.”

“Well...” Kaito trails off.

“What?” 

“Maybe we should find out. For, uh...science.”

“I’ll ask him about it, then.” Aoko turns, and Kaito grabs her arm.

“No!” 

“Why not?”

“Because...it would be rude, probably. Geez, Ahoko, you can’t just go tell someone there are rumors about them.”

“I guess that’s true, but you’re acting weird.”

“I’m just curious. If Hakuba has a tattoo, I want to know about it.” 

“How are you going to find out if you won’t let me ask him?” Aoko asks, and Kaito hums thoughtfully.

“I have a few ideas.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hey, Hakuba.” Kaito leans against the gym lockers next to Hakuba. “I have a question about last night’s homework, I think I got a problem wrong.”

“I find that hard to believe, given that last night’s homework was to photograph five species of plants in your area.”

“Yeah, and? Maybe I photographed the plants wrong, that’s why I need to ask you about it.” Kaito takes off his shirt and starts changing into his gym uniform. Hakuba looks suspicious, but nods.

“I’ll look at your photos after I’ve changed. Excuse me.” And he leaves, locking himself in the bathroom stall to change. Kaito sighs. Plan A: failure.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Thanks for coming over, Hakuba-kun.” Aoko says as she steps aside to let him in. “Kaito is already here.”

“Thank you for inviting me.” Hakuba says politely. He joins Kaito on the living room couch, and they study for a bit.

Aoko gets up to get snacks, and while she’s out of the room, she turns the AC unit off. The house starts to heat up as she returns with a bowl of chips. It doesn’t take long for the heat to be noticeable.

“Is your AC still broken? It’s way too hot in here.” Kaito fans himself with his notebook, enacting step two of the plan.

“Sorry, Dad said he’d call someone to fix it this weekend.” Aoko shrugs. “I’m going to change into something cooler, and then we can keep going.”

She goes upstairs to her room, and Kaito takes his shirt off and tosses it at Hakuba. Step three.

“Hey, take your shirt off. It’s the easiest way to cool down.” Hakuba throws the shirt back at him, but unbuttons his shirt. He leaves it hanging open and rolls up the sleeves, but doesn’t take it off.

It’s not that Kaito doesn’t appreciate Hakuba’s abs, but he’s on a _mission_ , he’s looking for a tattoo. The shirt covers too much of him still to be sure he doesn’t have one. Plan B: failure. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“There it is!” Aoko points out the beach, now visible just ahead of them. The walk from the station was short, and despite the whole trip being part of Kaito’s plans, Aoko is the most excited about being here. 

They change into their swimsuits in the bathrooms, and Kaito is disappointed to see that Hakuba is wearing a shirt when he comes out.

“Why are you wearing a shirt at the beach?” He demands.

“I burn easily, I like to wear a shirt in addition to using sunscreen.” Kaito nearly considers Plan C a failure, but there’s still hope. Maybe he can get Hakuba to take the shirt off later.

They cover themselves in sunscreen and Aoko runs down to the water while Kaito and Hakuba lay out towels to sit on. She returns holding a seashell that she puts in her bag to take home.

“Let’s build a sandcastle.” She says, picking up the bucket and shovel she’s brought. Kaito marks out an area in the sand with his finger and starts smoothing it out for the base, and Aoko fills her bucket with sand. They put Hakuba to work finding sticks and shells to use for structural support and decoration. 

They build a wonderful sandcastle, as is Kaito and Aoko’s tradition when at the beach, and Kaito takes a photo of it with his phone and sends it to the other two. 

“Psst.” Aoko pulls him aside while Hakuba is saving the photo on his own phone. “You’re still trying to see if he has a tattoo, right? Maybe he’ll take the shirt off to go in the ocean.”

“Good idea.” Kaito nods and raises his voice so Hakuba can hear. “We haven’t been down to the water yet, let’s go!”

Hakuba, disappointingly, does not take off his shirt, but he does come with them. Kaito makes sure there’s plenty of splashing, and they’re soaked and giggling when they start back to their towel on the sand.

Which is when Kaito notices something dark on Hakuba’s back, just visible through the wet material of his shirt. He can’t quite tell what it is, but _holy shit_ , Hakuba has a tattoo! Kaito _has_ to see it, he has to know what it is (and when Hakuba got it, and why, and-). He doesn’t know why he’s so invested in this, but he’s not going to back down now that he knows the tattoo exists. Plan C: sort of a success.

But how is he going to get Hakuba shirtless to get a look at the tattoo? He’s going to need a new plan. He knows just the thing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Strip poker?” Hakuba repeats incredulously. Kaito nods and continues shuffling the cards, showing off.

“C’mon, poker’s no fun if there aren’t any stakes, and I don’t have the money to bet.” He’s invited Hakuba over specifically to play this game, so he’s counting on being able to convince him to participate. “Don’t tell me you’re scared you’ll lose?”

“Of course not.” Hakuba, competitive in that way all Kaito’s detectives seem to be, rises to the bait. “But I get to deal. I want to be sure you aren’t cheating.”

As if Kaito can’t cheat anyway. But he agrees and hands the deck over as they sit down at the dining room table. Hakuba inspects the cards for marks or tricks, then shuffles them again and deals the first hand. 

Kaito wins, and Hakuba chooses to remove one of his socks (and then the other when Kaito insists they count as one item together). Hakuba deals again. Kaito loses this hand, and he takes off his shirt right away, hoping to encourage Hakuba to do the same.

Fortunately, two hands (minus Hakuba’s belt and Kaito’s socks) later, the shirt finally comes off. Now Kaito just has to figure out how to get a good view of Hakuba’s back. He’s staring, but surely he can’t be blamed for that. Not with Hakuba sitting across from him with no shirt.

“Er...Kuroba?” He finally says, clearing his throat. “If you’re attracted to me, there are better ways to deal with that than inviting me over and attempting to get me to strip via a card game.”

“If I’m-what?” Kaito squawks. “I’m not-“

He stops. He thinks about it. He realizes that not only has he been fixated on the very _idea_ of Hakuba having a tattoo, but he’s been staring at his stupid abs every chance he’s had, and maybe he is attracted to him?

“Hakuba! You can’t do this to me!”

“Do what?” 

“Come into my house and make me have a gay epiphany! It’s all your fault for being hot!”

“I’m-you think I’m hot?” Hakuba is blushing now, and Kaito thinks he might just melt into the floor to save himself the embarrassment of being part of this conversation. 

“But wait, if you only just realized you’re attracted to me, why did you invite me here to play strip poker?” Damn detectives and their attention to detail.

“Because I wanted to see your tattoo, okay? Which, in hindsight, was motivated by the crush I apparently have on you.”

“You could’ve just asked, you know.” Hakuba stands up. “Come here, you can look at it now.”

Kaito stands and walks around the table behind Hakuba. His tattoo isn’t what Kaito expected. It’s a hawk in flight, with a pink cherry blossom beneath one wing and a red rose beneath the other. He reaches out to touch it, then stops.

“Can I...?”

“Go ahead.” Kaito traces the hawk’s wings with two fingers, admiring it. 

“What does it mean?” He asks quietly.

“The cherry blossom is for Japan, and the rose is for England. I suppose the hawk is me. I got it just before I moved here...it’s sort of a reminder of who I am, and my home in each country.” Hakuba shakes his head. “That probably sounds silly and overly sentimental.”

“It doesn’t.” Kaito wraps his arms around Hakuba from behind, and Hakuba stiffens in surprise for a moment, but rests his hand over Kaito’s own.

“I’m glad you think so.” He says. “But please don’t tell anyone about it. I keep it hidden because our school doesn’t allow tattoos. Even if I didn’t face official consequences, I’m sure there would be social ones. I stand out enough as it is.”

“I won’t tell anyone, I promise. You should know that there are rumors about it, but I’m sure they’ll die down.” Kaito smiles against Hakuba’s shoulder. “I didn’t really believe them myself until I saw the tattoo through your shirt at the beach. You don’t really seem like the type, y’know?”

“Ah, is that why you invited me?”

“Well, yes, but it was more fun with you there anyway. I hope you’re not mad or anything.”

“I suspected you had an ulterior motive, I just didn’t know it was...sentimental, rather than criminal.”

“You can say ‘big gay crush,’ it’s okay. I’m aware of it now. And I’m not Kid.” He adds, habitually denying any possible suspicion. 

“Speaking of big gay crushes,” Hakuba starts, pulling away from Kaito and turning around. “Given that mine seems to be reciprocated...will you go out with me?”

“Hmm...” Kaito pretends to consider it. “I don’t know, detectives are awfully nosy dates.”

“And you aren’t?” Hakuba kindly doesn’t bring his thievery into it. “You constructed all these plans just to see my tattoo because you heard I _might_ have one.” 

“Fair enough.” Kaito smiles. “Yes, I’ll go out with you.”

“I’ll text you to work out the details, then?”

“What, are you planning on leaving now? We haven’t finished our game.” Kaito teases.

“Sorry, I’m afraid you don’t get to see any more than this until at least the second date.” Hakuba smirks, and Kaito laughs.

“I’ll hold you to that.”

“You’re welcome to hold me to anything if we get that far, though I’d prefer a bed.” He winks at Kaito as he gathers his shirt, socks, and belt and starts redressing.

“I’m actually impressed.” Kaito laughs again. “I didn’t know you could say things like that with a straight face.”

“Nothing about me is straight.” Hakuba replies almost automatically. “And I’m sure there’s a lot you don’t know about me.”

“I’m looking forward to finding out.”

“A movie and dinner, then?”

“Just say when and where.” Kaito agrees, and Hakuba nods. 

“I’ll see myself out, since you’re still shirtless. I had a good time, despite the odd nature of the evening.”

“And now you’ve got a hot date. I think we both win.”

“Good night, Kuroba.”

“You’re not going to tell me I’m hot? C’mon, I said it to you.”

“Good _night_ , Kuroba.”


End file.
